Monday, December 14, 2015

December 14, 2015
Dear Family and Friends,So it sound like it was super busy and crazy and AMAZING week!!!!!!!!!!!!! i am so happy that Rachel made it home safe and that she is home!!!So this week I decided that God is really smart!!! He knows exactly how to help us and when to help us!! He know when we need to stretch ourselves and when we can just relax for a sec! I feel like I am stretching all day long and it is hard, but I do feel Him close. He is amazing!! I am so glad I am getting to know Him while I am here!!!

The last two week we have done a ton of service!! Like we moved some one's piano, installed a wood floor and we go to a kitchen that serves people lunch every Tuesday and Wednesday. It is a lot of fun because 1) it is service I can do and (2) I get to help people! I enjoy it!!

So, the piano service! I experienced the most ghetto way to move a piano. We had this trailer that had like ply wood for the sides and we put the grand piano on top of the ply wood and then we just strapped it down and drove it over to their other house!! The whole time I was thinking "if mom was here she probably would be screaming and stuff!! Like some of the Mexicans are not gentle with things. This one guy in particular thinks that he can do everything on his own so he tried to lift the piano by himself and it got scratched up!! so just know I thought of you mom!

So I just want you all to know that I am a big boy and I buy my own food every week and plan out my meals! so that's is awesome!!!!

This week we got fed by one of the members and they fed us chili which was really good but the crazy part is that the bowl was like as tall as my hand is when i put it in a fist (thumb facing up) and then it was as long as my whole hand!! it was huge!!! I am learning really quick that I need to eat slower because then I : 1) wont get as fat and 2) I don't have to eat more when they ask if I want more. Don't get the wrong idea. I love the food but when you eat so much and then they want you to eat more.....

haha yep i am wet!! it has been raining like all week here and now it is starting to snow a little!!like a inch! apparently it is a lot for here. nothing like what you are getting!!!!

I am emailing from the family history center. We were at one to start off and then they kicked us out and then we went to a different church,across town because the churches aren't as close as Utah. hahahahaBut I don't care because I am not going to go 2 weeks not talking to you! haha

I have a washer in my apartment. so that is nice!

My Spanish is improving a little bit at a time!

so i cover 2 stakes but them I am over 1 branch, if that makes sense at all. I have that area to find people to come to the Spanish branch in two large stakes. We have to be like FBI agents and find out where they live and stuff. I am learning more about how there houses look like. A ton of them live in trailer houses. So that's cool!

We have done a lot of service this week so that was cool and also hard because you know me and how much I love to just jump in and start helping. But it is hard with my wrists because I can't do what I would like to do. When a Latino asks me to lift something I don't know how to say no so I get someone to help me or something. I am learning a lot that I need to ask for things and ask for help.

Medford is like a small town. It has fields and trees and mountains. It is really beautiful! It will be even more beautiful later because right now all the trees are just mossy and stuff so it doesn't look super amazing but I still enjoy looking at them because it is a whole different kind of thing!!! It is beautiful here!!

My apartment is small, but it has two bedrooms. It is smaller then Laura's and Cams.

Elder Blake and I are the only Elders in the apartment but the other Spanish elders live pretty close by.We share a car with the other Elders.I am teaching Helen who is 11 and she is really close to getting baptized and also I am teaching Andrea and she is 11 also. Her baptism date is Jan 9. We are hoping we can get her dad to baptize her. He is a little inactive and so we are trying to get him back.

So this week I have realized how little I know about this gospel. Like before I thought I knew a good amount about the gospel. This week I have seen how little I know. I encourage you all to study more!! Even if you feel like you know a lot. Keep learning and keep studying!! If your not sure where to start, start with Christ like attributes. you are about to learn so much if you really try.

12/14/2015On Thursday, my new companion Elder Peters arrived to the mission and they took us back to Medford! He is from Bountiful. It feels so weird to have a brand new missionary be with me.We have a couple really good investigators that are in part member families that are the children and they are super receptive and fun to teach. We are hoping the Dad of one of them can come back to church (who actually got baptized like my 4th day in the mission field and now we are working with them again) so he can baptize her daughter.